01.26 Wed

W E D N E S D A Y

January 26, 2011
Robert A. Doll

Theme: I've Got a Secret — Theme answers are all super-heroes, clued by their secret identities.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Diana Prince's alter ego (WONDER WOMAN).
• 24A: Peter Parker's alter ego (SPIDER-MAN).
• 31A: Britt Reid's alter ego (THE GREEN HORNET).
• 37A: Steve Roger's alter ego (CAPTAIN AMERICA).
• 48A: Linda Lee Danvers's alter ego (SUPERGIRL)
• 56A: Reed Richards's alter ego (MR. FANTASTIC).

Hey, folks. This is Doug, filling in for PuzzleGirl. She's been called away to deal with a Girl Scout Cookie emergency. By day, she's a mild-mannered puzzle solver and blogger, but by night, she dons her cape and boots to become...Cookie Mom! Or maybe she's Cookie Mom during the day and a mild-mannered blogger at night. Anyway, she'll be back tomorrow.

I flew through this puzzle like a speeding bullet. I saw the clue for 17A and filled in WONDER WOMAN immediately. Then I went through the rest of the theme entries and got them all with no crossers. Yep, I used to be a major comic book geek. I haven't read a comic in years, but I've still got a few hundred of my old ones sitting in a closet. I suspect some of you non-geeky people had a tough time with this one. The heroes get more obscure as you move from top to bottom. Everyone's heard of Wonder Woman & Spider-Man, but Supergirl & Mr. Fantastic aren't household names. And just so you know, Batman could beat up all six of these heroes without breaking a sweat.

If you enjoyed this puzzle, you might want to solve this one too: Super-Hero Boots. Here's the set-up: The Flash, Batman, Superman, and Aquaman were caught with their boots off when an emergency call came in....

Bullets:

• 35A: Bite for Mister Ed (OAT). Are you kidding? That horse was a star. Remember when he hit a home run off Sandy Koufax? I hope he ate something better than plain old oats.

• 45A: "Kubla Khan" river (ALPH). As if there weren't enough real-world rivers in crosswords, there are also a few imaginary ones you need to remember. ALPH usually gets a clue referencing Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan." There's STYX, often clued as "Underworld river" or "Charon's river." And finally LETHE, river of forgetfulness or oblivion.
• 61A: Bis plus one, to a pharmacist (TER). "Bis" means twice a day and "ter" means three times a day. I think. I'm always a bit hazy on the pharmacy clues.
• 3D: "General Hospital" actress (ANNA LEE). She played Lila Quartermaine from 1978-2003.
• 28D: "How now? ___?": Hamlet, before mistakenly slaying Polonius (A RAT). Sorry, I can't embed the video, but there's a great "The Simpsons" version of "Hamlet" here. Polonius: "I hide behind curtains because I have a fear of being stabbed."
• 29D: Letter after epsilon (ZETA). What's up with Catherine Zeta-Jones's name? I'm thinking about adding a random Greek letter to my name. How does Douglas Omicron-Peterson sound?
• 50D: 1961 British movie monster (GORGO). I've never heard of this movie, so did a little research on Mr. Gorgo. He's the usual dinosaur/Godzilla-type monster. And here's the exciting part: his mother is named Ogra! If the movie "Gorgo" experiences a sudden surge in popularity, OGRA could become the new go-to entry for crossword constructors. We wouldn't have to rely on OGRE as much as we do now. So please, everyone, add "Gorgo" to your Netflix queues.

• 53D: Lee who co-created 24-Across (STAN). This is a nice bonus to go along with the comic book theme. Stan Lee is a legend in world of comic books and was also instrumental in the creation of 56-Across and the rest of the Fantastic Four.
• 58D: Rhine feeder (AAR). Here's an excellent Crosswordese101 lesson on AAR and many other baffling rivers.